Ta Dah!

In my house, there’s a dining room. And in this dining room, there’s a chest.

And in this chest is any type of material in any colour you could imagine just waiting to be turned into something.

Over the years, as we’ve dashed into haberdashery shops or traipsed through charity shops looking for costumes for school plays, my mum has collected a whole range of different materials, whether they’re fat quarters or old dresses. And it was here that I could be found on Saturday, searching through the stash to find the perfect materials for my secret project. Ideally, I wanted purples but there weren’t many, so I chose a red and purple theme.

And after some drawing,

And some cutting,

I finally had some squares to play around with and design my, wait for it…

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…cushion cover from! I decided since I have no money care about my friend, Kathryn, greatly and wanted to put maximum effort into her birthday present, that this would make a brilliant present for her to have in her bedroom.

And then I discovered how boring and fiddly but necessary pinning is. I think there’s a major niche in the market for someone to invent a device that means you don’t have to pin any more. Seriously, someone get on that one (and then give me some money for suggesting it).

And eventually, I got onto the bit that I looked forward to from the start. The sewing machine!

I loved using the sewing machine and apart from the fact that when I tried to press on the pedal slowly to start it, it just seemed to build up it’s power so when I pressed the slightest bit harder, it shot off at a million miles an hour, I think I got pretty good at it.

My first fully joined row.

Once all the squares were joined into rows, there was the fiddly bit of joining the rows together. This involved a LOT of pinning and fiddling so that the little bits that overlapped where two squares were joined didn’t make the material too many layers thick. But once that was done, it was just whizzing it through the sewing machine again.

And then I had a full cushion cover front.

Next, I cut out the material for the back of the cover which just happened to be exactly the right width. I love it when things like that happen!

After MORE pinning, albeit less fiddly this time, I joined the front and back together – fronts facing inwards. And I even managed to remember to leave a gap so the cushion could be shoved in!

(Doesn’t my mum make a great model?)

And then it was time to turn it the right way out:

The next bit was the most nerve racking bit. When you’ve just spent the whole day making something, having to squish something else into it while the stitching is stretched to its limit is a bit stressful. But it held out and the cushion was almost a perfect fit (the cover’s a little baggy round the edge, but I think I can live with that).

And just to put off the fiddly hand sewing to join the remaining gap, I decided to add equally fiddly hand sewn initials.

Then I could put it off no longer. I had to sew up the gaping hole because I think Kathryn would have noticed it otherwise.

And then it was finished! So I took about a million photos of it in different positions in different rooms just to appreciate its full potential.

Some wrapping paper and a card and it was all set to go.

So happy birthday, Kathryn! I hope you love your present, because if you don’t I’ll have it back and you can have some Dairy Milk or something.